Removing brown stain from old fiber based prints

[presspass]

I just found two prints - fiber based, either single weight or the old stabilization process - in a drawer. Both have brown stained borders, although the image itself seems fine. First, is there any way to remove this stain. if not, is there a way to make sure it doesn't get worse? Thanks

 

[Gerald C Koch]

It is recommended that stabilization prints be washed to remove the stabilization chemicals and then fixed and washed as normal prints. I doubt that the stain can be removed without damaging the print. However if the print is valuable you might consider consulting a conservator. When a developing agent like hydroquinone oxidizes it forms what are called humic acids. This is a term for compounds of varying composition formed from condensed phenolic moieties. The higher weight molecules are insoluble in water. The brown stain that forms on poorly cared for developer trays is an example. It is recommended that the prints be scanned first before anything is done to them.

 

[gone]

What Gerald said.

If it were me, I would also trim the borders off to make sure that it doesn't spread, although that is probably not necessary. Still, just to be sure.

I suspect there are stains on the printed image as well (the whole paper is exposed to all chemicals, air, etc and can't tell where the image is, or isn't). You may just not be seeing them due to the developed image.

 

[snapguy]

die

Based on many years of experience using stabilization processors, it is my opinion the prints will continue to darken. It appears they needed to be fixed in the regular way because stabilization prints were never made to be permanent. Do not store these prints with regular fixed and washed prints or the trouble may spread. If you don't have the original negs then the best policy would be to copy the prints using b&w film. Digital images are ephemeral, like stabilization prints, nitrate film and true love.